Rustam Minnikhanov: Naberezhnye Chelny needs a technical university

On November 13, speaking at a meeting with participation of Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal District Igor Komarov, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov said that the second largest city of Tatarstan needs a technical university with a strong teaching staff. The city needs qualified personnel for the plants of KAMAZ Automaker and the enterprises of Naberezhnye Chelny Territory of Advanced Economic Development, he added.

The problem of shortage of personnel was raised by Director General of KAMAZ Sergey Kogogin. "With our investment activity, we are faced with the fact that the city does not meet the requirements imposed on it by the business," Kogogin said. “There will be no one to work here,” he added.

Speaking at the meeting, Mayor of Naberezhnye Chelny Nail Magdeev noted that the city participates in 19 federal and regional programmes. As many as 157 billion roubles have been invested in the city's economy for three years, with the volume of products shipped increased by 43 per cent to make 923.3 billion roubles. During this time, about 15,000 new jobs have been created in the city. "Currently, there are 534,000 people living in the city, the birth rate is growing. The development plan for Naberezhnye Chelny provides for a population growth up to 600 thousand people by 2030," the Mayor cited statistics. At the same time, he voiced the problem that talented school graduates are leaving the city.

Minnikhanov proposed to establish a large technical university in Naberezhnye Chelny. "The system of training schoolchildren in Naberezhnye Chelny is one of the best in the republic and, of course, the most talented studdents are leaving for Kazan, Moscow and St. Petersburg. Therefore, a large technical university is needed here. We have a joint project between the Kazan University and KAMAZ Automaker, but the technical university should be a very strong one and well developed,"  Minnikhanov said.

Komarov supported the idea offered by Minnikhanov. "This should be a very prestigious university," he said.